Stacks of antique books line the walls of the Donahue Rare Book Room. Some professors worry the books may be pawned off to meet financial obligations, a claim which University President Rev. Stephen Privett, S.J. does not foresee happening.

sounds rather good.

Who are the winners in these days' economic crisis?

Transferring books from an academic library (and hence in some sense from public posession) to private holdings and thus making them qith quite some probability far less accessible (and: do keep in mind: for (almost) all ancient books every single copy is a unique copy!) is equivalent - once again - to privatising gains and socialising losses. And IMO it was exactly this attitude (privileging private possessions and surrendering public control) which brought us into the present crisis first of all.

On 2008-05-28 Terry Belanger sent the following text via EXLIBRIS-L, which I redistribute here, with his kind permission (thanks!): Quote:

FATHER BILL Father William J. Monihan (1914-1996) became head of the University of San Francisco Library in 1947. In 1964, he moved over to become the director of library relations for the university. During his 40-year library career, he acquired more than forty notable collections for USF. In a recent blog posting ('San Francisco Earthquake'; see www.nicholasbasbanes.com/), Nicholas Basbanes referred to his 1995 'Gentle Madness' piece on Father Bill. Younger subscribers to ExLibris who did not have a chance to meet this remarkable 'penniless Medici' may be interested in the following excerpt from Basbane's account: 'I got the idea for the Sir Thomas More Medal when I was visiting Europe with the Grolier Club in 1967,' Father Monihan said. 'I discovered that the Royal Library of Sweden gives such an award, and I was impressed by the concept. I even borrowed their motto, which translates -private book collecting &#150; a public benefit.' I came back and talked to our library associates and said, &#145;Why can't we do this?' ' He named the medal for Sir Thomas More, who was the focus of his first major acquisition; the collection now includes about a thousand items, foremost among them a volume of the martyr's writings annotated in the hand of John Donne. The first person Father Monihan wanted to receive the honor was Norman Strouse [chairman of the board of J. Walter Thompson]. 'In 1968 Norman was approaching retirement. We had lunch together in New York, and he said, 'I'd like to help your library.' After we gave him the first medal he said to me, 'When I move back out to California, I am going to help make your library great.' And he has done exactly that.... 'I am a Jesuit, and I took a vow of poverty,' Father Monihan explained in our interview. 'I have no interest at all in owning anything for myself. But I love books, and I collect them. The difference is that I collect them for an institution, not myself. Early on I knew that I could never have a strong library if I depended upon university funds. They would say, &#145;We would love to help you, Will, but we just can't do it.' So when I became head of the library in 1947, I went outside. I went out to meet people. And I've been doing it ever since. I have created enthusiasm among friends to support us. Now we have an endowment fund of some size, and I'm always getting gifts. So what you are seeing here is largely from friends, with no university funds used at all. This is all outside money doing this.' Father Monihan has a warm smile, silver hair, and a gentle demeanor. His blue eyes sparkle when he talks about books, and he is unahakably persuasive about his mission. The ability to get so much 'outside help,' as he puts it, has been his gift. 'I love people and they love me,' he explained, 'And that's all that counts' ('A Gentle Madness' [New York: Henry Holt, 1995], pp. 452-4). THE MORE MEDAL AS MAGNET Part of Father Bill's genius is that he was able to attract significant donations to the Gleeson Library from persons who had little or no previous contact with the University of San Francisco. The recipients of the University of San Francisco's Sir Thomas More Medal for Book Collecting include 1968 Norman H. Strouse 1969 Wilmarth S. Lewis 1970 C. Waller Barrett 1971 Lessing J. Rosenwald 1972 Elmer Belt 1973 Gordon N. Ray 1974 Frederick R. Goff 1975 Mary Hyde 1976 Otto Schafer 1977 Lawrence Clark Powell 1978 John S. Mayfield 1979 John Dreyfus 1980 Phyllis Goodhart Gordan 1981 Robert H. Taylor 1982 Albert A. Sperisen 1983 Bern Dibner 1984 William H. Scheide 1985 Sanford L. Berger 1986 Mitsuo Kodama 1987 Carlton Lake 1988 Lawrence Lande 1989 William P. Barlow, Jr. 1990 Kenneth E. Hill 1991 Arthur Holzheimer 1992 T. Kimball Brooker 1993 William J. Monihan, S.J. 1994 The Lord Wardington 1995 Albert Shumate 1996 Michael Harrison 1997 Lloyd Edward Cotsen 1998 Virginia & Jenkins Garrett 2000 W. Michael Mathes 2003 Mark Samuels Lasner 2007 Bernard M. Rosenthal A number of the medallists have been generous to the Gleeson Library, as were a number of regular attendees of an annual symposium that Father Monihan ran in San Francisco for many years. On this and other aspects of his career as a librarian and fundraiser, see Ruth Teiser's 1988 oral history, produced by the Regional Oral History Office, University of California, and available online: www.archive.org/stream/librarianbookman00monirich/librarianbookman00monirich_djv
u.txt

APOTHEOSIS In 1997 (a year after Father Monihan's death), USF opened an addition to the Gleeson Library called the Geschke Learning Resource Center. Quoting USF's website: The dramatic glass-enclosed atrium that anchors the east end of the Geschke Center honors Fr. William J. Monihan, S.J. The atrium, located at the heart of the lower campus, features 5,000 square feet of open space punctuated by two handsome balconies. The zinc roof echoes the dome of St. Ignatius Church, clearly visible through the faceted glass walls. The Monihan Atrium provides library users with a quiet place for study and contemplation as well as a centrally located space for occasional University functions. Fr. William Monihan was the founder and driving force of the original Gleeson Library. During his 47 years of service, first as University librarian then as director of library relations, he saw the collection grow from some 20,000 books to one of more than 600,000 volumes. He was instrumental in developing the Donohue Rare Book Room, dramatically increasing the library's endowment and founding the Friends of Gleeson Library volunteer support group. Fr. Monihan's dedication to the University and his deep love of books shone through his modest demeanor. A painting of Fr. Monihan by Furman J. Finck, the father's personal favorite portrait, hangs in the atrium with the following inscription: Reverend William J. Monihan, S. J. 1914 - 1996. Jesuit, University Librarian, Bibliophile, San Franciscan, Caring Friend to Many.' (From <http://www.usfca.edu/library/about.html>http://www.usfca.edu/library/about.ht
ml; downloaded 28 May 2009.)

DECLINE In May 2003, the then and current president of USF, Father Stephen Privett, met with the Board of the Gleeson Library Associates (GLA) to ask that the group discontinue its present activities and focus its energies on fundraising to help pay for business and scientific electronic subscriptions for the general library. Within a few months, four directors, including important donors, resigned from the Associates' board. The GLA continued with its activities, made modest gifts of a few thousand dollars to the general library when it was able, but did not specifically engage in fund raising. In late 2006, a valuable Maynard Dixon painting that had hung for years in the Rare Book Room at USF was secretly consigned for sale at a December auction at Bonhams. Despite last-minute efforts to suspend the sale, it sold and the University netted about $800,000, a sum which (one was told) went into an endowed fund to support general library acquisitions. In a burst of activity in 2007, the GLA celebrated its 50th anniversary, awarding its Sir Thomas More Medal for "private book collecting - a public benefit" to Bernard M. Rosenthal in the spring and holding a Golden Anniversary celebration in the fall. Although the Board made a gift of $10,000 to the general library at this time, it was criticized by the University administration for the money it spent on the event, money that might otherwise have provided a larger gift to the Library.

FALL The clandestine May 2009 sale of USF's Rembrandt and Durer prints may be seen as a further -- and possibly final -- stage in the deteriorating relationship between the GLA, President Stephen Privett, and the current USF administration. Father Monihan&#145;s vision was to form a rare book collection at USF without significant expenditure by the University that would significantly enhance the credibility of the university as a serious institution of higher learning. Surely it was not the intention either of the University library's earlier donors or of the many benefactors rounded up by Father Bill that their gifts might subsequently be reconfigured to form part of the operating funds of the University. In an email message to Father Privett sent last week, Peter Stansky (Frances and Charles Field Professor of History Emeritus at Stanford University), said bluntly: In my view to diminish the collection not only violates the faith of those who have donated to the collection (as I have in a very minor way) but verges towards vandalism and philistinism. It is a panic reaction to a situation that I believe will improve. Forgive me for writing so bluntly, but such a contemplated action requires a strong response. The secret USF sales have not -- yet -- been the subject of national news coverage (though stay tuned). They are, however, widely known in the Bay Area, and a significant part of the USF alumni body will surely be made aware of any further sales.

CONFIDENTIAL TO FATHER PRIVETT (One of the really valuable items in the USF collection is 'Lucubrationes, ab innumeris mendis repurgatae,' a 1563 volume of Sir Thomas More's writings, from the library of John Donne and with his annotations throughout. Its call number is PA 8553 .A22 1563 c.2. Note the tail-end of the call number: it is a duplicate; the USF library has another copy of this edition. Copy 2 would fetch a lot at auction. The book was purchased with funds provided for this purpose by William Monihan's mother and father, early in his career at USF Librarian &#150; but Father Bill's parents are long dead, as is Father Bill....) [A low blow, but look what we're dealing with....]

WIDER IMPLICATIONS I have been following the rare book world with some attention since the late 1960s, but I cannot remember another occasion in the United States where valuable items were removed from a university library's special collections and sold secretly, without at least some sort of prior discussion within the community affected by the sales. The USF's actions are causing many donors (and potential donors) of books and other valuable property -- far beyond the USF community -- to rethink about the terms of their institutional donations (or proposed donations). I think we're going to start seeing a significant change in the language used in deeds of gift, along these lines: If at any time in the future the University of X no longer wishes to, or is no longer able to, to serve as the custodian of my gift, then I direct that it should be sold at auction for the benefit of the SPCA [or some other charity]. We've not heard the end of this one.